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Are companies allowed to hand pick which reviews to print?

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  • 05-04-2014 10:44am
    #1
    fro9etb8j5qsl2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,391 ✭✭✭


    I wrote an honest review about a terrible experience I had recently with a product from a large national company. I submitted it to the website and got a message to say that it would be put forward for approval. The review itself had no profanity etc and was completely honest (they can check their records to confirm this). Yet almost a week later I have heard nothing from them and my review has still not appeared on the site. Are they allowed to hand pick the reviews and only put up the good ones? It seems like a dishonest practise to me.


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    #2
    GerardKeating
    Registered Users Posts: 7,673 ✭✭✭GerardKeating


    Ryker Microscopic Stopwatch wrote: »
    I wrote an honest review about a terrible experience I had recently with a product from a large national company. I submitted it to the website and got a message to say that it would be put forward for approval. The review itself had no profanity etc and was completely honest (they can check their records to confirm this). Yet almost a week later I have heard nothing from them and my review has still not appeared on the site. Are they allowed to hand pick the reviews and only put up the good ones? It seems like a dishonest practise to me.

    It's there site, they can do what they want.


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    #3
    srsly78
    Registered Users Posts: 7,157 ✭✭✭srsly78


    They can publish what they want on their website - otherwise known as advertising. If you want your negative review to be visible use an independent website.


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    #4
    dudara
    Registered Users Posts: 33,518 ✭✭✭✭dudara


    It's their website, so they can publish their choice of content


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    #5
    GerardKeating
    Registered Users Posts: 7,673 ✭✭✭GerardKeating


    srsly78 wrote: »
    They can publish what they want on their website - otherwise known as advertising. If you want your negative review to be visible use an independent website.

    Actually some of the "independent" are just as bad, esp if they depend on advertising from the businesses being reviewed.


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    #6
    emeldc
    Registered Users Posts: 2,597 ✭✭✭emeldc


    You could always post it here and send them the link with a nice picture attached :D

    OLeary.jpg


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    #7
    mrsbyrne
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,228 ✭✭✭mrsbyrne


    Ryker Microscopic Stopwatch wrote: »
    I wrote an honest review about a terrible experience I had recently with a product from a large national company. I submitted it to the website and got a message to say that it would be put forward for approval. The review itself had no profanity etc and was completely honest (they can check their records to confirm this). Yet almost a week later I have heard nothing from them and my review has still not appeared on the site. Are they allowed to hand pick the reviews and only put up the good ones? It seems like a dishonest practise to me.

    Why on earth didn't you make your complaint to their complaints department !?
    Did you honestly think that a successfull business would publicly display a negative review?
    "allowed" . What law is it you think they are breaking by not commiting business suicide in this way?


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    #8
    fro9etb8j5qsl2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,391 ✭✭✭fro9etb8j5qsl2


    mrsbyrne wrote: »
    Why on earth didn't you make your complaint to their complaints department !?
    Did you honestly think that a successfull business would publicly display a negative review?
    "allowed" . What law is it you think they are breaking by not commiting business suicide in this way?

    I put in a complaint to their complaints department almost a month ago and they haven't bothered to even acknowledge my complaint. And even at that, making a complaint to them does nothing to warn off other potential buyers which is what I wanted to do. TBH, I was hoping that the review would be automatically added (probably naieve of me). The website of their english counterpart does have some negative reviews of products so I suppose that's why I assumed the irish site would be the same.


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    #9
    L1011
    Registered Users Posts: 69,059 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    mrsbyrne wrote: »
    Did you honestly think that a successfull business would publicly display a negative review?

    Amazon, Maplin and other firms do actually show negative product reviews - but the likelyhood of a smaller business, or somewhere that sells mostly own-branded products, doing it is minimal.


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    #10
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,458 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    Ryker Microscopic Stopwatch wrote: »
    Are they allowed to hand pick the reviews and only put up the good ones?

    Short answer: Yes

    Have you ever picked a paperback book off a shelf in a bookshop and seen a bad review quoted on the back cover?

    Have you ever stood outside a restaurant and seen a photocopy of a bad newspaper review in the window?

    Have you ever seen an ad. in a newspaper for a car and seen a quote from a negative review?
    Ryker Microscopic Stopwatch wrote: »
    It seems like a dishonest practise to me.

    It's called marketing.


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    #11
    cuilteanna
    Closed Accounts Posts: 139 ✭✭cuilteanna


    I was following a facebook page for an event where every comment that was not 100% glowing praise was deleted. Some comments were quite positive and merely pointing out things to consider for the following year but still purged. If you didn't gush over this man and his event you were quickly censored - some of us were considering attending and were watching the page closely enough to see it. Suffice it to say we decided against ever attending.


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    #12
    hardCopy
    Registered Users Posts: 5,969 ✭✭✭hardCopy


    cuilteanna wrote: »
    I was following a facebook page for an event where every comment that was not 100% glowing praise was deleted. Some comments were quite positive and merely pointing out things to consider for the following year but still purged. If you didn't gush over this man and his event you were quickly censored - some of us were considering attending and were watching the page closely enough to see it. Suffice it to say we decided against ever attending.

    Deleting Facebook comments is a common mistake by companies that are new social media. In the OP's case the comments are vetted before displaying, so nobody else will ever see the negative review.


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